


to be alive beneath cherry blossoms

by gurlsrool



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Easter Egg Hunt, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, just bitty/jack getting chirped n being gross, that's literally all it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-28
Updated: 2016-03-28
Packaged: 2018-05-29 19:05:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6389446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gurlsrool/pseuds/gurlsrool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gang partakes in Samwell University's Men's Hockey Team's Fifth Annual Shitty Knight Easter Keg Hunt Spectacular (patent pending).</p>
            </blockquote>





	to be alive beneath cherry blossoms

**Author's Note:**

> I know this is a day late but I'm amazed it wasn't later so there ya go!! Dedicated to Savanna bc this was inspired by our own Extra egg hunt. S/o to Katie for thinking of what Shitty's mug wd say and the rest of shs for the hc discussion that also led to this, as usual. Tw for some language, alcohol use, and implications of sex. It's rly 1000% fluff. Title comes from the quote "What a strange thing to be alive beneath cherry blossoms." Happy Easter kids.

Jack used to count the cracks on his bedroom ceiling to fall asleep. Sometimes, the number got so high he was surprised the Haus hadn’t collapsed yet. 

Sunday morning, he counts the freckles on Bitty’s face to wake up. The sunlight’s streaming over his cheeks in a way that makes him wish he could take a picture but he can’t reach his camera without getting up which would mean having to take Bitty out of his arms.

Bitty stirs when Jack gets to freckle number seven. He smiles up at him and Jack’s breath catches in his throat. “Were you staring at me?” He chirps, voice still heavy from sleep, the sound of it going straight to Jack’s stomach.

He rolls his eyes when Jack doesn’t answer and leans up to kiss his lips softly. “Happy Easter,” he whispers.

Jack thinks he’ll say it back after he kisses Bitty one more time. Or two. Or three.

He doesn’t get the chance when the bedroom door flies open. Jack jumps instinctively and Bitty groans into Jack’s shoulder. “Go away,” Bitty whines. “Please go away.”

“Aha!” He hears Holster call out. “I told you they were boning, give me five bucks.”

Jack looks up to see Ransom pulling out his wallet with a huff. 

“Dude of course they’re boning,” Shitty stands behind them, wearing only boxers and holding a mug Lardo painted for him that reads “pizza rolls not gender roles” as if this is still his Haus. “Why the fuck would you take that bet?”

“I don’t know!” Ransom whines, “Jack’s like a dad. I don’t like thinking of the dads boning! Also the probability-”

“Oh my lord get out,” Bitty groans and Jack smiles as he buries his head further into Jack’s chest. “Five more minutes,” he mumbles, eyelashes fluttering close.

“Only five minutes?” Holster raises an eyebrow.

“Ten bucks says-”

“If any of you,” Bitty raises his head, staring each of them down in turn, “want to eat Easter dinner in the dining hall, by all means, continue.”

Ransom and Holster trip over each other, throwing themselves away from Bitty’s room and down the stairs. Shitty replaces them in the doorway, leaning against it, socked feet crossed casually. “Hey kids,” he raises his mug, “how ya doin?”

“That threat doesn’t exclude you Shitty,” Bitty narrows his eyes. “You can use my dining card.”

“I know, I know,” he waves a hand lazily. “I hate to break up this bomb ass morning sex,” Shitty smirks at Jack, “buuuut Easter keg hunt is in…” he glances at the hello kitty watch on his wrist, “right now, get your asses downstairs.”

“Wait you’re still doing that?” 

“Uh yeah?”

“We graduated.”

“Are we just naming facts now? Jesus wasn’t white. Bitty’s bed springs are loud as fuck.”

Bitty goes pink, “Shitty B. Knight I swear-”

“See ya downstairs!” Shitty calls, running away from the door, leaving it wide open behind him. Bitty sighs into Jack’s shoulder.

“Do you think anyone would notice if we just didn’t show?” Bitty whispers against Jack’s ear.

Jack snorts, “I’d say so.”

“Are you sure?” Bitty asks so softly Jack can only really feel the words hot on his face and it makes him shudder. He presses kisses against Jack’s jawline and he inhales, strongly considering it.

“I… uh…”

“Bitty are you- oh,” Chowder stands in the doorway, “Oh, hi Jack! It’s weird seeing you in here,” his eyes go wide, “I mean, that came out wrong! It’s weird because I’m used to seeing you across the hall but that’s where I am now! Thanks again for the room, really. It’s so nice! It gets good heat and it’s near Bitty which is great which you know, obviously. Ha! Oh no wait am I interrupting-”

“Did you have a question Chowder?” Bitty asks, seemingly exasperated but Jack knows he can never be mad at Chowder.

“Huh? Oh yeah! Are you coming downstairs for the egg hunt? It won’t be the same without you! I mean you too Jack but-”

“Yeah,” Bitty sits up, raising his arms above his head. Jack watches him stretch and for a long moment forgets about Chowder and the rest of the Haus, distracted by the skin exposed when Bitty’s t-shirt lifts up a few inches. 

When he looks away, he sees that Chowder already left, presumably downstairs. He looks back to find Bitty smirking. “What?”

“You’re not paying attention. You didn’t even hear what Chowder said!” He climbs over Jack and stands up, sifting through his dresser lazily.

“Sorry,” Jack stands up behind him, “My boyfriend’s pretty distracting.”

“Oh hush,” he tosses Jack a shirt from his drawer. “Let’s get this over with.”

“What kind of attitude is that?” Jack grins, pulling the Falconers shirt over his head that Bitty stole from his apartment sometime he can’t remember. It’s his own shirt but it smells like Bitty and it’s warm and he thinks he’d steal it back if the scent would never fade. “That’s not very Bitty-like.”

“It’s the attitude of my professional hockey player boyfriend covering up his abs,” Bitty deadpans as they walk downstairs.

“Finally!” Shitty yells as they sit down on an empty space of carpet.

“Chill man,” Nursey leans against Dex’s legs dangling off of the couch. He flinches but for once, says nothing, “We’ve got time.”

“If we wait too long the lax douches are gonna wake up and take the eggs,” Shitty whines.

“Believe me,” Bitty’s eyes flutter close and then open again a moment later, “they won’t be up for like three more hours, at least. Or four.”

“Long night Bits?” Lardo grins behind her coffee mug. Holster and Ransom wolf whistle in response and Bitty rolls his eyes, snatching the mug from Lardo’s hand and chugging one long sip. “Seriously though I think I could do a rad piece on your hickeys dude.”

“Stop!” Bitty yelps.

“Alright, alright, break it up children,” Shitty stands at the front of the room, “Let’s focus on the matter at hand. I was _also_ getting busy last night-”

“I thought you were stopping!”

“-planning Samwell’s Men's Hockey Team's Fifth Annual Shitty Knight Easter Keg Hunt Spectacular (patent pending)!” 

“Why is it pending?” Ransom asks, “You’re literally a Harvard lawyer.”

“RULES!” Shitty yells, “No teams, every man for himself. Vodka eggs are worth two points, tequila’s worth three. Now I know what you’re thinking Mr. Zimmermann-”

“I know how this works Shitty.”

“What if I don’t drink? Ah, well there’s hope for you yet! If you uncover the golden egg you’ll automatically win the whole game! Your prize? Pride, glory, an Eric Bittle pie in your choice of flavor, a cute as shit teddy bear, and… a surprise!”

“I’m making Easter dinner! I didn’t sign up to make a pie!” Bitty protests.

“Bits look me in my damn eyes and tell me you weren’t gonna make a shitton of pies anyways.”

“Okay,” Bitty sighs, “But y’all gotta stop chirping me and Jack then!”

“Bitty,” Ransom narrows his eyes, “You’re hooking up with a hot famous multi-millionaire French-Canadian hockey playing treasure. Just take the damn chirps. They're well deserved.”

“Wait, I don’t understand,” Dex interjects.

Lardo raises an eyebrow, “the hockey robot and the Southern baker are dating.”

“What? No, not that.” Nursey snorts and Dex glares at him, “The game. If the golden egg is worth the entire game there’s no point in even finding the other eggs.”

“Ah but the point is the fun you have along the way,” Shitty grins, “also the alcohol, definitely the alcohol. Also, last place does a keg stand naked tonight. LINE THE FUCK UP TAKE-OFF’S IN TWO MINUTES. Nowhere on campus is off limits but we gotta travel from location to location as a group to make sure everyone stays safe and actually takes the shots if they’re taking the points.”

“Why don’t we just trust each other?” Chowder asks meekly.

“Aww,” Bitty smiles down at him fondly. “Yeah Shitty, can’t we just trust each other?”

Holster shakes his head, “This whole hot boyfriend thing is really getting to your head Bits.”

“Agreed. You give me no choice,” Shitty pulls Bitty off of the floor and throws him over his shoulder, ignoring his shrieks as he does. “The rest of you, grab your pillowcases and get off your asses!” 

He carries Bitty to the front porch and holds him until Jack comes up behind them, arms folded. “Alright Shits, put him down.”

“You’re not his fucking keeper Jack Zimmermann!” Shitty yells but sets him down on his feet anyways.

Bitty huffs, folding his arms. 

Shitty begins the countdown to the start and takes some preemptive shots, passing some out to the rest of the team. “You ready for this?” Jack asks, knocking his shoulder into Bitty’s. 

“Of course,” Bitty turns and looks up at him and it amazes Jack that sunlight always seems to surround him. “Why? Do you think I’m not?”

“I didn’t say that. Although you did do pretty badly last year.”

“Excuse me!”

“I’m just saying, you were so drunk by the end you thought the rocks by the lake were eggs. I had to carry you back to the Haus.”

Bitty laughs, “Maybe I just wanted you to carry me.”

“Oh,” Jack says and even ten months in his heart skips a beat. “Even then?”

“Well,” Bitty blushes, “yeah.”

“Me too,” Jack pushes his shoulder into Bitty’s and Bitty pushes back and Shitty yells go and Jack breathes. He was so scared for life after Samwell but maybe he wouldn’t have been if he knew it would have been this: playing in Providence. Sleeping over at Shitty’s apartment on long weekends when they both need to get away. Bitty visiting during his spring break and making pancakes at four a.m. wearing Jack’s jersey because they’re both too happy to sleep. Coming back to Samwell for Easter weekend and staying up all night with Bitty to make up for all the nights they’re not together. Running across campus in his pajamas with his old team, his family, at 6 a.m. It’s different than college, less classes and more hockey. He thinks he could get used to it.

They’re ten minutes in and it’s clear that Bitty’s taking Jack’s challenge seriously. He’s ignoring most of the shot eggs in pursuit of the golden egg and like Jack, passes most of the shots he finds onto Shitty who can’t take the points since he hid them while high on red bull and weed and Lardo’s cologne at 4 a.m. this morning but takes the alcohol gladly. 

It’s hard to keep the vodka and tequila in the eggs but everyone seems to be getting a good amount into their mouths somehow. “If you’re this determined on the ice maybe you’ll make frozen four this year,” Jack chirps as he hangs back, arms folded, while they scour through bushes, and everyone stops to throw empty eggs at him.

The rest of the morning goes on like this. The team drunkenly destroys half the landscape of Samwell in their search for eggs. There’s a lot of debate on the law of finders keepers and Shitty plays judge every time although whenever Lardo’s involved he rules in her favor. At one point when the sun’s fully up, they run into Professor Atley who’s on her way to Samwell’s official egg hunt. She stumbles upon them while Bitty’s taking an egg shot and he quickly throws it into a bush when he sees her. She gives them a knowing smile and says hello to both of them and is on her way, leaving Jack laughing into Bitty’s side.

“You’re cruel,” Bitty pouts, pausing for a moment as he watches Ransom and Holster scramble up a tree. “Oh lord I can’t believe my adviser just saw me drink from a plastic rainbow _egg_. Do you think it’d be better if I told her that was only my third?”

Jack shrugs, “I don’t know but you really should start drinking. You’re not gonna find the golden egg.”

“Why not?”

“Because I always do.”

“Just because everyone’s too drunk by the end to find it! But this year,” Bitty grins and presses a finger to Jack’s chest, “I’ve got you matched Mr. Zimmermann.”

“We’ll see about that.”

They do. The last location is, of course, Faber. Shitty tells them with a booming yell that the golden egg is the only egg hidden in the rink and sends everyone on a mad dash. The guys are all falling over themselves, tripping over their own and each other’s feet, but Jack and Bitty remain calm, walking in a slow circle around the rink, eyes darting around quickly in search of the egg.

“I’ve always wanted to kiss you here,” Jack says quietly and Bitty stops.

“Hey! You’re trying to distract me!”

“I’m not! It’s true. I don’t think I realized how much I wanted to but I did. Those checking practices were the death of me.”

“Me too,” Bitty smiles and then his eyes go wide and Jack barely has time to process what’s happening before Bitty’s kissing him, hard, pushing him against the outside of the boards. When Bitty has him completely pinned, Jack giving up on flailing and surrendering, Bitty bites Jack’s bottom lip and Jack moans involuntarily, leaning into the kiss as much as he can. That’s when he feels Bitty’s weight leave his body. He opens his eyes in time to see Bitty make a break for the ice and race over to the goal, grabbing the golden egg from inside the net.

“See!” Ransom exclaims and Jack turns to see the team huddled up ten feet away. “I told you! It’s like watching your parents bone!”

“I see what you mean,” Holster nods solemnly, “That was disturbing.”

“That was hot,” Lardo grins.

“That,” Shitty says, as Bitty emerges from the ice, cheeks flushed and golden egg in hand, “was tactful fuckin warfare.”

"I would have called it cheating," Jack mumbles but he's smiling. 

They all walk back to the Haus together so Bitty can claim his prize and they can nap before dinner. The pride and glory takes over Bitty quickly and the teddy bear is, as promised, cute as shit, and the surprise, it turns out, is a signed Jack Zimmermann poster. 

“You can like, jack off to it,” Nursey grins when Shitty presents it to him.

“JACK ZIMMERMANN OFF!” Ransom and Holster shout and Bitty rolls his eyes.

“Why would I do that when I can have the real thing?” He asks.

“How romantic,” Lardo says dryly as the rest of the team coos, before heading upstairs or crashing in the living room to nap.

Jack and Bitty get started on Easter dinner, with Bitty cooking and Jack following any instruction he gives him. It’s simple. It’s nice. Jack’s not religious by any means but standing here, in this kitchen, with this boy, hearing stories of Georgia Easter disasters and being able to lean over and kiss Bitty whenever he wants to makes him think he’ll celebrate this holiday next year and the year after. It makes him think that one day the eggs will be in front of a yellow five bedroom house and they’ll be filled with candy instead of booze and he and Bitty will have matching gold bands and a dog at their feet and Jack still won’t be religious but it will be enough to make him search for some sort of God to thank.

“What are you thinking about?” Bitty asks curiously as he starts working on the maple crusted apple pie, his winner’s choice. "Are you upset I beat you? I can make it up to you," he waggles his eyebrows, grinning.

Jack blinks and looks at Bitty, the late afternoon sun streaming in from the window behind him, making his hair almost seem to glow. Jack steps forward and kisses Bitty, once on his forehead, on each cheek, on his nose, his chin, his ears, his lips. “Just... that.” he whispers and they stay like that, completely absorbed in each other, until the sun sets. If you asked Jack, he’d say he never saw it go down at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! 4/5 cp fics for March done I'm cutting it close but sue me. hmu at gaysun on tumblr and give me some fuckin prompts! ily all!


End file.
